Princeton University Extrasolar Planet Discussion Group

The point particle approximation is widely used in the study of planetary dynamics. While this zeroth order approximation is often a very good one, in many cases of interest crucial aspects of the dynamics are lost if the effects of structure are not accounted for. The equilibrium tide theory is a powerful dynamical prescription which accounts for the effects of structure: specifically, it self-consistently accounts for tidal interactions, gravitational potential arising from deviation from rotational deformation, and both the magnitude and direction of the planet's rotation. In this talk I describe our integration of the equilibrium tide theory into the popular N-body simulator package REBOUND, providing a flexible and intuitive tool for the wider dynamics community. I will discuss both our implementation of the code, and benchmark its performance against analytic predictions and independent results.